Despite 11-13 Record, Sale Battles Scherzer for Top AL Pitcher

23 Sep 2013

Should a pitcher with an 11-13 record be considered for the Cy Young Award against a pitcher who is 20-3? This weekend summed up the whole season for the top two pitcher’s in the AL according to www.valueaddbasketball.com when the White Sox Chris Sale lowered his ERA to 2.97 with 7 2/3rds scoreless innings, only to see his bullpen give up a 6-0 lead in the ninth, while Detroit’s Max Scherzer went to 20-3 with an easy 12-5 win. The top 10 AL pitchers according to Value Add with one week left in the season:

Overall

10 Most Valuable AL

Team

Value Add

3

Chris Sale

CHW

13.89

5

Max Scherzer

DET

13.69

10

Hisashi Iwakuma

SEA

12.33

11

James Shields

KC

12.31

14

Hiroki Kuroda

NYY

11.40

16

C.J. Wilson

LAA

11.19

18

Doug Fister

DET

10.91

19

Mark Buehrle

TOR

10.89

20

A.J. Griffin

OAK

10.88

21

Bartolo Colon

OAK

10.88

In 20 percent of the 4,500 starts in the Value Add database, the team gives their starting pitcher no chance to win – a 0.00 ERA Needed to win based on the number of runs they score minus the number of unearned and relief runs they allow.

The Tigers have only failed to give Scherzer a chance to win in three of 31 starts, while this weekend marks the third time in the last four starts that Sale has been given no chance to win. Sale now has 221 strikeouts, the White Sox record for a left-hander, and just a few shy of Scherzer. Value Add gives Sale a very slight edge for the season, though Scherzer will very likely win the Cy Young easily.

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